Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles Arcade: Wrath of the Mutants Review Mini – Review Mini
An arcade port comes home to a house full of other turtles.
Having stumbled upon the Raw Thrills-developed Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles arcade game a few times, I was looking forward to the home release of the game in the form of TMNT: Wrath of the Mutants. The original 2017 release is a decently enjoyable modern arcade game that does not rival the Konami classics but is a fine pastiche. On Nintendo Switch, removed from the colorful arcade cabinet you potentially found in a bowling alley or bar, that enjoyment starts to fade away.
The best part of Wrath of the Mutants is the source material, pulling from the extremely good 2012 TMNT cartoon, featuring the great voice cast of Rob Paulsen, Seth Green, Sean Astin, and Greg Cipes as the title characters. All of the levels, including the new ones added to the Switch version, pull from the cartoon show’s entire run, complete with some winks and nods to older versions of the characters. The Switch version runs fine but doesn’t look that great overall, especially in handheld mode. While I personally like the look of the show it’s based on, I don’t think that art style translates well to this type of video game.
Levels are longer than you expect, complete with multiple stages, mid-bosses, and a final boss. The four playable characters are most separated by their available Turtle Power, which is a bonus move that can be pulled off when a meter is charged. Mikey uses his nunchucks to hit enemies with pizza slices, Donnie electrocutes baddies, Leo spins in a sword tornado, and Raph gets angry and makes fire appear. You also have assist characters, such as Leatherhead and Metalhead, that you can occasionally get to drop in and help out battling the hordes.
In a world where the Switch is filthy with TMNT arcade games across the Cowabunga Collection and Shredder’s Revenge, Wrath of the Mutants is a distant third place. It’s fine in the sense that if you get three buddies to play through it with you, you’ll probably have a good time. But beyond that camaraderie, this is a middling port of an okay game.
